Richard McConnell and wife, Tina Williams, own and operate a farm in Polk County, Missouri. Spending much of their time around ranchers and cattle, both, they saw the need for proper livestock handling in the cattle industry.
Low stress animal handling is something Richard firmly believes in. To him, the universal law of stockmanship is this: The animals are never wrong. Richard pointed out, “Whatever results you get, you caused.”
The basics to low stress stockmanship:
1. Learn to read and react to what the animals are telling you.
2. Learn to back up.
3. Adjust your attitude; it makes a huge difference.
“The old way of thinking was ‘I’m going to force that animal to do what I want.’ The new way of thinking is ‘I will let that animal do what I want it to.’
“When working livestock, walk or pressure the animals in straight lines, and with confidence. Always work within the sight of the animal. Livestock always want to see what is pressuring them.
“Livestock have natural instincts and understanding those instincts will go a long way toward improving handling.”
Some of the instincts of livestock? “Livestock always want to go by us. They like to go around us, because they want to go back the same way they came, where they last felt safe,” McConnell said.
“Animals want to move in the direction they are headed. They want to follow other animals, and they have very little patience.”
Low stress handling proves beneficial to the animal and handler. With less stress in handling, producers can determine sickness more easily because animals are more willing to express illnesses. Sickness caught in early stages will be more successfully treated. Medications are more effective when cattle are handled correctly.
Another benefit is less shrinkage during shipping. By lowering the stress level at weaning time, calves and cows will profit.
Basically, low stress handling produces contented livestock. Contented livestock are more easily sorted and loaded, are easily driven as a herd or individually, and will stay where they are placed.
With the low stress method, handlers are able to drive cattle anywhere they want for improved pasture/herd management. They can also enjoy the satisfaction of a job done the right way.
For the handler, this method is a vast improvement. McConnell said he likes handling livestock, but added, “I like doing it easy.”
Improving your handling method means learning to react in a positive way to what’s happening in front of you. Positioning means working in and out of the pressure zone, and staying out of the animal’s flight zone. Being behind animals isn’t bad, but pressuring from behind is bad. The pressure zone is changeable and can be made smaller or enlarged.
It is best to work on the sides and from the front of animals as much as possible. Anytime you can see an animal’s eye, you are on the side of the animal.
More pressure is required to start an animal moving than to keep it moving, and you should give animals two or three steps before you start moving.
When it comes to attitude, Richard said, “If we could change one part of working livestock, less yelling would likely do the most good. Yelling is probably the most detrimental action we have while working livestock, and in most cases it does more harm and no good.”
For more information on McConnell and Williams’ low stress handling, visit www.ozarksfn.com.
